Lior Lerman

Project Title

Supervisor

Dr. Experience Bryon

Qualifications

MA Performance Practices and Research, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD, 2012)

BA School of Visual Theatre in Jerusalem (2007)

Abstract

The ongoing debate surrounding the ontology of performance is as of yet not grounded in any coherent theory of communication. This renders research in this area uncritical and inconsistent regarding key concepts such as medium, content, meaning and representation, assuming a pre-existing shared understanding of these terms. This practice based enquiry introduces the study of media ecology to the field of performance research thereby re-problematizing these concepts in the context of performance art. Working from the understanding that media are mutually determined and historically contingent, and that media reveal themselves most clearly in their interactions with other media, this emerging praxis selects several source texts from other media and adapts them into performance art. Taking into account the fluctuating nature of media environments this process of adaptation draws imaginary lines between medium and content and between one medium and the next, in an aim to trace changes in mediality as they occur. As such this thesis gestures towards a shift in focus from the study of media and art forms in themselves to the patterns along which they change and evolve.

Profile

I am a performance maker and projection designer. I began my training at the School of Visual Theatre in Jerusalem. In 2014 I came to London to take part in the MA program in Performance practices and Research here at Central, and joined the PhD program as a full time student in January 2015. My performance practice explores questions of meaning and myth making at the fulcrum between the mechanical and the digital age.

Practice

2009–16 Writer, designer, Paper Cut - Created with Israeli artist Yael Rasooly. Commissioned by the International Puppet Theater Puppet Theater in Jerusalem, and performed in various festivals around the world. Awarded the Diploma of distinction from UNIMA ,The World Puppetry Organization, (August 2010), Winner of the Grand Prix and the “ International Festival for solo Puppeteers” in Lodz, Poland (April 2011).

2014–16 Performance maker, Greed, Three special editions of the book Greed by Tahel Frosh, first performed at the Confederacy House in Jerusalem, September 2014.

2014 Writer and Performer, Two Seater, Original sound play for two performers and two rocking chairs, performed at the NIME 2014 festival in London.

2012 Performance maker, It Means Mischief, Live installation based on William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Performed at Brink Festival at RCSSD